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Derived from field and telephone interviews, e-mail communications, and secondary sources, this two part case describes how Gerald Mahoney, a shoes salesman in a Foley's Department store, is faced with a problem - Macy's has bought out the Foley's chain and, in doing so, has upscale the product line of shoes and altered his commission-based compensation system. These changes have resulted in less sales for Mr. Mahoney and therein lower commission - a difficult situation since he, his wife, and his daughter were barely getting by on his currently salary. Part A of the case describes an opportunity that presents itself to Mr. Mahoney; to leave his current job with a guaranteed low salary with possible additional income from commissions for a job selling residential homes which becomes purely commission-based to start with after three months of a salary plus commission pay that includes job training. In Part B Mr. Mahoney has decided to take the sales job with ABC Home Builders and receives his assignment. He finds that the working conditions of the sales office are not conducive to selling. His office is located in the rear of a trailer that is extremely run down and is paired with a competitive, noncommunicative saleswoman. The case ends with Mr. Mahoney feeling hopeless and alienated.

This two part case has been written primarily for an undergraduate junior level course in career planning or sales management and deals with the issues of recruitment, placement, training, and compensation. The case may also be employed in a course dealing with human resource management (from an individual's perspective), salesmanship, and organizational behavior.

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows: identify key elements of luxury branding in the context of a new residential real estate brand; select target segment/s and outline the sales pitch for a luxury residential real estate brand; plot the pre-sales stage of the customer journey path (CJP) for a luxury residential real estate brand; and plan a pre-sales customer engagement strategy for a luxury residential real estate brand.

This case enumerates Aldeola de Siolim, Goa’s (ASG) pre-sales promotional challenges. ASG was an upcoming luxury residential property in Goa, India. Venky Infar – the developer of ASG – a family-owned civil construction firm – wanted to diversify into Goa’s vibrant luxury housing market. In India’s housing market, the success of a project often depends on the “pre-sales,” i.e. attracting target customers and maximizing the sales before the construction. V. Rama Rao, the project manager’s task, was challenging because ASG and Venky were new entrants in a mature and competitive market. However, Rao was determined to capture a slice of this lucrative market. The case discusses the following four points to help the students understand the marketing challenges and decision context. First, ASG’s key attractions, second, overview of the Indian real estate market, third, characteristics of Goa’s luxury home market and finally, Customer Journey Path for residential real estate purchase. The case elaborates on the nuances of strategic dilemmas and and presents competitors' practices and emerging consumer trends.

The case will help students analyze and formulate a pre-sales promotional plan for a luxury real estate product. It is suitable for marketing elective courses, e.g. branding, sales management and luxury management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing

In the early months of the 2007-08 financial crises, a loan manager faces a real estate financing decision. Should he approve a bullet structure three-year loan to a longstanding client, a legendary Texan developer? The developer, who near retirement downsized his business, is seeking financing for his only project: residential or commercial development on an attractive piece of land in suburban Houston. The loan manager considers the decision in light of the mortgage market turmoil, seeing commercial projects as safer, but also factoring that the residential market could bring higher returns if the market stabilizes soon. The manager collects the data and asks an analyst to assess the risks; that ultimately requires assessing the economics of both projects from both the bank's and the developer's perspectives. The bank could still change the interest rate on the loan to receive adequate compensation for the risk it carries, but the loan manager knows that doing so will change their long-term client willingness to take on the loan.

The case was written based on personal interviews with Jordan Boyes.

Boyes Group, a private real estate brokerage in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, had been growing rapidly. Company founder Jordan Boyes needed to determine where to continue expanding. Saskatoon held great potential in home building, and he wondered if this would be a direction for his company. His real estate reputation was excellent, but he wondered if building homes would jeopardize his current relationships with local builders. He wanted to move fast, to avoid giving up market share to his competitors.

This case was designed for undergraduate and graduate classes in strategy.

One of the major issues present in this case is whether there is significant industry pressure to internationalize. Yip’s (1989) global strategy drivers are a helpful approach for examining this issue. This case also applies two important marketing concepts – the product life cycle and diffusion of innovation theory – and how differences across international markets impact these concepts. Finally, there are significant cultural issues at play in this case as well. Theoretical models of national culture, such as Hofstede, Hall and others, can be used to examine cultural influences on an industry that is not often associated with culture.

The case is based upon a combination of secondary research and primary research. The lead researcher and a team of graduate students conducted interviews with Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) executives in the USA and Chile in 2017.

This three-part case examines the internationalization of LP into South America. Case A begins in 1999 as LP attempts to decide whether to take its oriented strand board product international. The reader is asked to consider where LP should go in South America. Case B examines the factors LP used to decide to enter Chile and then outlines the key decisions that led to its impressive growth between 2000 and 2015. Case C begins in 2015 as LP now considers whether to expand its markets into Argentina or Colombia.

Given the complexity of issues raised in the case and the need to narrow these issues down to an implementable decision, this case is most appropriate later in the schedule of a graduate or executive-level business course in international business or international marketing.

The learning outcomes are as follows: decision-making in the areas of business plan, business strategy, financial management, profit planning and marketing, learning from outer business environment, succession planning for first-generation entrepreneur and choosing appropriate source of financing and drivers for diversification.

Immersed in sipping green tea in his capacious office lounge, the octogenarian Arjun Mehta introspected on the trials and tribulations of his journey as an entrepreneur, the voyage which started four decades ago. From 1976 to 2018, the business has now traversed three generations. Starting with Spice Mart (Sole Proprietor) to Hindware and Lament Construction (partnership firms) to Starlite Homes Pvt. Ltd. (corporate entity), Mr Mehta witnessed transformation and restructuring in organization with every new generation which characterized the evolution of family business. Handholding children to take up the reins of Spice Mart was not a calculated choice. Yet it is remarkable to study the growth in organizational structure of the regional family business. As a self-made entrepreneur, morals, ethics and value system are vital ingredients steering the organic growth story. Third-generation Mehta’s are enterprising, aspiring and visionary. With the incorporation of a corporate entity, they convinced themselves to bring inorganic growth in their business. Arjun Mehta gleamed with pride as Spice Mart partakes an organized structure which had lost prominence with the second-generation entrepreneurs. But he is equally hammered with juxtaposed thoughts. He contemplates whether the integration of retail business with real estate corroborates sustainable innovation. Will independent businesses create the brand’s footprints perpetually? Should the millennial confine business natively or should they grow internationally and become a conglomerate?

The case can be exclusively taught to masters and executive education class of students pursuing entrepreneurship and business management courses. The case will supplement understanding of theories of entrepreneurship and dimensions of family businesses in emerging economies.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

One of the case writers worked as a student in the summer of 2018 in EnoLight, which provided the inspiration for the case. The first author is not tied to the company and provides an unbiased perspective. The information presented in the case and the quotes were sourced from an interview with Farzad Moghiman in the Fall of 2018, email and phone follow-up with him, and information the second author remembered from his time at EnoLight, which was approved later by Farzad. Supplementary information was obtained from online sources, as cited in the case.

Farzad Moghiman, president of EnoLight, has a vision to revolutionize the use of light and bring it to the forefront of artistic designs. The company was founded in late 2016. Over a year was spent developing the business plan, finding additional partners, establishing the company as a limited partnership, finding and negotiating with suppliers and beta-testing its products. It is now time for Farzad to start selling as his funds, which were his lifetime savings, is running out. He knew the first decision to make was the target market. Identifying the first segment to target would help him select the distribution channel and other marketing plan elements.

The main objective of this case is to segment the market and identify the most attractive segment to target. This case offers an opportunity for students to segment both consumer and business markets and experience the significant impact of selecting the target market on other marketing mix elements. Furthermore, students are exposed to the difficulties of a start-up environment, resource constraints and a lack of market credibility – bearing these factors in mind while generating realistic alternatives. This case can be used in an introductory marketing course.

1. Apply segmentation variables to segment both business and consumer markets and understand how segmentation and targeting impact other marketing decisions.2. Evaluate different customer segments to select the target market.3. Develop the best positioning strategy for a new startup company.4. Recommend an segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) plan that meets the company’s financial objective.

What happens when a company is faced with a unique market challenge with the potential to change the way business is done—a true market disruption? This was the challenge faced by the European business team of DuPont's Tyvek Housewrap business. The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol created new challenges for the construction industry in the United Kingdom that the DuPont team felt it could meet. To enforce the Kyoto Protocol, the U.K. government threatened to fine utility companies and builders who did not adhere to new emissions standards. Deploys the Innovation Radar framework, which encourages a business to think through all the issues of a business system, leading to a successful introduction and a sustainable business. DuPont's European Tyvek team had to devise a solution at the intersection of multiple elements. Specifically: Who should it target? How should it describe the product's value proposition? Through what channels could it reach the key decision makers? How could it overcome the inertia of the existing business system?

To illustrate that all the issues relevant to bringing an innovation to market must be recognized and dealt with in an integrated fashion when introducing major new business initiatives; that the Innovation Radar is a useful framework that integrates key questions around WHAT the product is, WHO the key customers are, HOW the product affects their desired outcomes, and WHERE the product should be placed in market; and that the elements in the radar comprise a complete business system of innovation.

The learning outcomes are as follows: business model pivot, minimum viable product, strategic alliances, return on equity and burn-rate.

HMSolution’s (HM’s) mission is removing arsenic from drinking water. The case tells how HMS pivoted its business model between 2014 and 2015 and its challenge when faced with several growth opportunities. The first possible partner company proposed adopting HMS’s technology through either an alliance or outsourcing. The second company wanted to acquire HMS. However, Margaret – the founder and CEO – managed to find a third option in the form of an important sanitation sewage treatment company in Chile with international presence, with which she could reach a wider territory in her country of origin, as well as in other countries where that company had a presence. This case study presents Margaret’s dilemma of deciding the best course to follow and finding the best fit for her product and the needs of the market.

The instructor can adapt the requirements and depth of the topics addressed, ranging from an undergraduate audience to an executive training audience. Undergraduate courses, namely, entrepreneurship, business creation, administration and strategy. For students of business careers, administration, commercial engineering, industrial civil engineering and industrial engineering. Continuous training, namely, entrepreneurship, business creation, administration and strategy.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.